Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.

Archive for September 29th, 2005

Vice Minister of Information and Communications on whether Walter
Martinez from the Dossier program in the Government’s TV station was
censored or not when his program was cancelled:

“We only asked that he rectify his conduct”

Of course, Martinez did not, so they cancelled this program. Clearly the
Minister has no clue what freedom of speech is. With Vice-Minister of
Information like that, freedom of speech is clearly non existent. You
can say what you want, but hey, you may be asked to rectify! Martinez’
crime? He said there was a lot of corruption, he had proof and talked
about fake Chavistas with red berets just to make a buck. Martinez still
says he supports the Government.

I always talk about the Chavez praying mantis effect of which Martinez
was a victim. There is also the black widow effect, as told by
journalist Claudio Nazoa in his weekly column in reference to Martinez’
case:

“Revolutions are like black widows, spiders that kill their mate after
they have used them to copulate. Those that persecute today, one day
will be persecuted. Those that suck up and squeal on others, tomorrow
will call us to tell us that they did not know about the things that
were happening.”

Couldn’t have said it better, in criollo “A cada cochino le llega su
Sabado”, all of you pro-Chavez Venezuelans reading this: Remember this,
because we will not forget!

Venezuela’s
government is accelerating plans to expropriate local agribusinesses
and extend state control over foreign oil and mining industries,
fulfilling President Hugo Chávez’s “revolutionary” economic agenda.

Hugo
de los Reyes Chávez, the governor of the province of Barinas and the
president’s father, issued a decree on Monday expropriating a flour
milling plant belonging to Polar, Venezuela’s largest food company and
the country’s biggest private-sector employer.

The announced
expropriation of some of Polar’s assets, apparently without the
prospect of financial compensation, heralds a new, more integrated
phase in the government’s land redistribution programme.

In
recent weeks dozens of rural estates have been “intervened” in by
officials from the national land institute, often accompanied by the
military.

It is not clear whether the Polar plant, if
confiscated, will be handed over to a workers’ co-operative, as has
been the case with other land expropriations, or whether the assets
will be transferred to new business groups.

Lorenzo Mendoza, president of Polar, said last night: “We consider
this decision to be unjust, disconcerting and unconstitutional.”

President Chávez says he will eliminate large landholdings as part of a
drive to introduce what he terms “socialism of the 21st century”. But
the move against agribusiness parallels a policy of extending
government control over heavy industry. Rafael Ramirez, the energy
minister, said this week that the government might take over oil fields
operated by multinationals if the companies failed to comply with a new
legal operating framework by the end of the year.

Oil companies
are required to sign transitory operating contracts ahead of converting
them into joint ventures with Petroleos de Venezuela, the state-owned
oil company, in which the state will hold a majority stake.

Patrick
Esteruelas, a Latin America analyst at Eurasia Group, said that while
local agribusinesses such as Polar were likely to see expropriation,
foreign oil and mining companies faced a different challenge.

“More
strategic companies are likely to face tighter terms but are not likely
to see their assets expropriated,” said Mr Esteruelas.

The
likelihood of greater state control is also surfacing in the mining
sector. Mr Chávez said last week that a gold mining region known as Las
Cristinas “belonged to the state”. His comments prompted a sharp
decline in the share price of Crystallex, a Canadian mining company
planning to build what would be Venezuela’s largest gold mining venture.